NOVEMBER 20188T he entertainment industry in India is a sunrise sector for the economy and is making tremendous strides. The industry is experiencing a strong phase of growth, backed by rising consumer demand, increase in discretionary spends and increasing advertising revenues. In India, the expansion of multiplexes since the mid-80s has changed the dynamics of Indian cinema. With well diversified distribution of multiplexes across India, there is also access to wide variety of regional content.The scope for growth is immense in all the segments due to rising incomes and evolving lifestyles. Media is consumed by audience across demographics and various avenues such as television, films, out of home, radio, animation and visual effect (VFX), music, gaming, OTT, digital advertising, and print. The industry generates employment for 5-6 million people, including both direct and indirect employment. India produces the maximum number of hours of content globally, across 2,000 films, 800+ television channels, 250+ radio stations, 100,000+ newspaper and magazine editions and thousands of live events.Separately, the Government of India has also encouraged this sector's growth by taking various initiatives such as digitizing the cable distribution sector, opening of Telecom and Radio sector to attract greater institutional funding, increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit from 74 per cent to 100 per cent in cable and Direct-to-home (DTH) satellite platforms, and granting industry status to the film industry for easy access to institutional finance.Having said that, the change in consumer behavior continues to accelerate, necessitating new strategies and flexible business models for entertainment and media companies to thrive in global markets. Even amid all the changes the most valuable constitute of the media industry is the Fan centric approach. The Companies have to constantly change and adapt themselves to the new technologies and the change in taste and preferences of the consumer. In line with this, Companies have started looking beyond traditional portfolios. Almost all the Companies in entertainment and media sector have shown a paradigm change in their approach. Indian cinema, with its century old rich heritage, has evolved from celluloid to digital cinema and multiplexes, thereby introducing IMAX, 4DX and Insignia experience. During this evolution various developments in terms of technological advancements took place not only in film making, marketing, distributing but also in how movie goers watch cinema paving way to multiplexes thereby becoming entertainment centers. By way of this, it is also seen that multiplexes have transformed themselves into complete entertainment zones by introducing facilities such as children's play area, play stations, special auditoriums for children and many more such initiatives to come-up in the near future. There are also cafes and food and beverage lounges, thereby making it a complete family outing package. THE EMERGING MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRYBy Kailash B Gupta, CFO, INOX Leisure Limited IN MY OPINIONKailash is a seasoned Finance Professional with 21 years rich experience in General and Business Accounting, Taxation, Banking, Treasury, Business planning & review, Budgeting, Commercials, Legal, Controlling and relationship ManagementKailash B Gupta
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